Qaradaw Blames Jews For "Annihilation and Extermination"

Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi has said on Al Jazeera TV that the “idea of annihilation and extermination came from the Torah” also suggesting that the Bush Administration and supporters accepted this notion. Qaradawi was responding to the recent appearance, also on Al Jazeera, of Wafa Sultan who debated Egyptian Islamist Tal’™at Rmeih on a variety of subjects including the Danish cartoons, Islamic teachings, the situation in Gaza, freedom of expression in the West, and the Holocaust. According to a BBC report:

[Qaradawi] denies Sultan’s remarks that the Koran incites Muslims to kill non-Muslims, saying that Prophet Muhammad only fought those who started the fight. He cites the following part of the Koranic verse: “If any one slew a person -unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land -it would be as if he slew the whole people.” He adds that God “calls for resorting to peace before war,” noting that “in all the raids that the Prophet, peace and prayers be upon him, he was the attacked party.” On the other hand, Al-Qaradawi cites a verse from the Torah which orders “killing all the males of distant countries, not excluding the elderly or children.” He cites another verse from the Torah which urges the Jews when they enter “Palestine” “to annihilate its people and not spare a single live.” He concludes that the “idea of annihilation and extermination came from the Torah,” which he says “Bush and the rightist Christians believe in.”

Qaradawi has made numerous anti-Semitic remarks including blaming “Zionism” for the Danish Cartoon crisis and suggesting that the number of Holocaust victims has been exaggerated.

The report goes on to say that Qaradawi also harshly criticized Al Jazeera for allowing the interview with Sultan stating:

Al-Qaradawi adds: “How can this woman be allowed to appear on Al-Jazeera Channel? I blame brother Faysal al-Qasim, who, despite what she said, tells her: I thank you very much.” He goes on to blame Al-Qasim, saying: “What do you thank her for? For impudence and strange rudeness? Do you thank her for ignorance? This is compound ignorance.” He continues to say: “I blame Al-Jazeera channel, Al-Jazeera’s administration, and Al-Jazeera board of directors for allowing this woman to appear on the channel and utter such remarks, as though there is no Islam or Muslims in the world, and as if nobody cares about his religion and his nation.”